---
title: "What are economic buckets?"
slug: "what-are-economic-buckets"
tags: ["JE Line", "EconomicsBucket", "journal entry line"]
updated: 2026-01-23T12:57:06Z
published: 2026-01-23T12:57:06Z
canonical: "support.lusid.com/what-are-economic-buckets"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.lusid.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What are economic buckets?

LUSID automatically categorises every [journal entry line](/v1/docs/how-does-lusid-generate-journal-entry-lines-from-economic-activity) it generates to represent economic activity in portfolios into a broad economic bucket such as `NA_Cost` or `PL_RealPriceGL`.

You can use the economic bucket categorisation:

- In a [posting rule](/v1/docs/how-do-i-add-a-posting-module-with-posting-rules-to-a-chart-of-accounts#syntax-of-a-posting-rule) to post the credit or debit amount recorded by the journal entry line to an appropriate general ledger account.
- In a [general ledger profile mapping](/v1/docs/how-do-i-add-a-general-ledger-profile-with-mappings-to-a-chart-of-accounts#syntax-of-a-general-ledger-profile-mapping) to enable breakdown of one, some or all general ledger accounts in a trial balance.

| **Economic bucket** | **Generated by** [**movement types…**](/v1/docs/what-movement-types-are-available) | **Journal entry line amount represents…** | **Futher broken down into…** | **Notes** |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Component** | **Variant** |
| **Transaction activity** |
| *Increasing or decreasing positions* |
| `NA_Cost` | `StockMovement` `CashCommitment` `CashReceivable` `CashAccrual` `CashFxForward` `CashForward` | The adjustment to the cost basis of the holding (security or cash). |  |  | When increasing a position (opening or extending a long or short position), the `NA_Cost` amount represents the purchase cost. When decreasing a position (selling a long position or covering a short position), the `NA_Cost` amount represents the cost of the security being sold. Any amortisation is reported as `PL_RealAmort`. Any gain or loss after cost and amortisation is reported as `PL_RealPriceGL` and/or `PL_RealFXGL`. |
| `PL_RealPriceGL` | `StockMovement` | When closing a position, the market component of the realised gain or loss. | `CoreMarket` `CrossGainLoss` | `ShortTerm` `LongTerm` | [Cross gain](/v1/docs/how-does-lusid-calculate-pl#how-does-lusid-calculate-cross-gainloss) represents the FX gain on the market gain. It cannot currently be audited separately. |
| `PL_RealFXGL` | `StockMovement` `CashCommitment` `CashReceivable` `CashAccrual` `CashFxForward` `CashForward` | When closing a position in a different currency, the currency component of the realised gain or loss. |  | `ShortTerm` `LongTerm` | This can only be reported in the base (or portfolio) currency. |
| `PL_RealAmort` | `StockMovement` | When closing a bond position where the purchase cost differs from the face value, the amortisation amount. | `Premium` `OID` `MarketDiscount` `Acquisition` |  | The amortised cost is a combination of `NA_Cost` and `PL_RealAmort`. |
| *Transaction-level income and expense activity* |
| `PL_Carry` | `Carry` | Can be used to balance the `NA_Cost` of a transaction representing a dividend, trading fee, commission, exchange fee or tax amount. (Alternatively, income or expense activity might be stored as a field or property on a purchase or sale transaction itself.) |  |  |  |
| *Portfolio-level income and expense activity* |
| `CA_Capital` | `Capital` | Can be used to balance the `NA_Cost` of a transaction representing a subscription, redemption, deposit or withdrawal. |  |  |  |
| `PL_Fees` | `Fee` | Can be used to balance the `NA_Cost` of a transaction representing a portfolio-level fee or expense. |  |  |  |
| *Miscellaneous* |
| `PL_Other` | N/A |  |  |  | LUSID generates a journal entry line in this economic bucket not as the result of a movement but rather as a balancing entry if other journal entry lines associated with a transaction do not themselves balance. We recommend mapping this economic bucket to an appropriate error account for early diagnosis of possible configuration problems. |
| `PL_Rounding` | N/A |  |  |  | LUSID generates a journal entry line in this economic bucket not as the result of a movement but rather as a rounding entry if other journal entry lines associated with a transaction have discrepencies between local and base amounts. We recommend mapping this economic bucket to an appropriate miscellaneous account. |
| **Valuation activity** (note that for every `NA*` journal entry line LUSID automatically generates a corresponding `PL*` line) |
| `NA_Amortised` `PL_Amortised` | N/A. There is no transaction type (and therefore no movements) associated with valuation activity. | The amortised amount of an investment, and an equal and opposite amount for balancing a P&L account. | `Premium` `OID` `MarketDiscount` `Acquisition` |  | The local amount of a journal entry line can be audited using the `Holding/Amortisation` [valuation metric](/v1/docs/what-is-a-metric). For the base amount, use `Holding/PortfolioAmortisation`. |
| `NA_UnrealPriceGL` `PL_UnrealPriceGL` | The change in investment value caused by the latest detected market price after amortisation, and an equal and opposite amount for balancing a P&L account. | `CoreMarket` `CrossGainLoss` | `ShortTerm` `LongTerm` | The local amount can be audited using the `ProfitAndLoss/Unrealised/Market` metric; this is calculated as follows:`Valuation/PV - Holding/Cost/Dom - Holding/Amortisation - Holding/VariationMargin - Valuation/Accrued` For the base amount, use `ProfitAndLoss/Unrealised/Market/PortfolioCcy`; this is calculated as follows:`((Valuation/PV - Valuation/Accrued) * Quotes/FxRate/DomPortfolio) - Holding/Cost/Pfolio - Holding/PortfolioAmortisation - Holding/VariationMarginInPortfolioCcy - ProfitAndLoss/Unrealised/Fx/PortfolioCcy` |
| `NA_UnrealFXGL` `PL_UnrealFXGL` | The change in investment value caused by the latest detected exchange rate after amortisation, and an equal and opposite amount for balancing a P&L account. |  | `ShortTerm` `LongTerm` | This is only reported in the base (or portfolio) currency. The amount can be audited using the `ProfitAndLoss/Unrealised/Fx/PortfolioCcy` metric; this is calculated as follows:`((Holding/Cost/Dom + Holding/Amortisation) * Quotes/FxRate/DomPortfolio) - Holding/Cost/Pfolio - Holding/PortfolioAmortisation` |
| `NA_Accrued` `PL_Accrued` | The change in investment value due to interest accrued, and an equal and opposite amount for balancing a P&L account. |  |  | The local amount can be audited using the `Valuation/Accrued` metric. For the base amount, there isn't a unique metric, but you can perform the following calculation:`Quotes/FxRate/DomPortfolio * Valuation/Accrued` |
| `NA_CostNormalisation` | The difference between the recorded cost and the trade date average cost of a cash holding in a portfolio with [realised gain/loss calculated on trade date rather than settlement date](/v1/docs/realising-gainloss-for-cash-holdings-on-trade-date-rather-than-settlement-date). Note LUSID automatically balances cost normalisation amounts by offsetting credits for cash holdings above the trade date average with debits for cash holdings below the average. |  |  | This is only reported in the base (or portfolio) currency. The amount can be audited using the `Holding/CostNormalisation` metric. |
